Concern over kids’ safety at schools as sexual abuse cases register a rise

The recent arrest of a 50-year-old government school teacher near Annur in Coimbatore district for sexually harassing a Class-6 girl has once again brought to the fore the issue of safety of children on school campuses. The growing instances of sexual harassment cases in the TN schools in the last two decades have raised the eyebrows of the academicians, parents and activists even as the School Education Department authorities continue to remain clueless on how to tackle the issue, which affects the educational experiences of thousands of students.

According to the statistics provided by the School Education Department to the Information Commission office, from 2000 to 2019, as many as 171 sexual harassment cases were reported in the schools, including private institutions, across the State. The data further revealed that between 2006 and 2019, a total of 164 sexual abuse cases were reported. The last three years’ figures too indicate a worrying trend. While 15 cases were reported in 2017, in 2018 it shot up to 34, and 2019 saw as many as 35 sexual abuse cases getting registered.

Child rights activists with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Chennai said that when it comes to Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), more than 80 per cent of the time children do not come forward and report it due to fear. “Only a fraction of students subjected to sexual harassment reports the incident to a teacher or at home. Apart from the fear factor, awareness among the children about the CSA is also very minimal,” said P Shobana, a social worker and child rights activist, who had also worked with World Health Organisation (WHO) on CSA initiatives. Claiming that sexual education should be part of the school curriculum from middle school level, she said that at the elementary level too, it is high time for parents and teachers to work together to create awareness among the kids about sexual abuse, and to distinguish between ‘bad touch’ and ‘good touch’.

Dr Kalpana, who works as a student counsellor with a private hospital in Virugambakkam near the city, points out that from posh private institutions to dilapidated government schools, kids who haven’t even entered their teens were getting sexually harassed. “Only a few of the government schools come forward to report the CSA cases. Many private institutions don’t do that for fear of the school’s image getting spoiled,” she added.

Referring to a recent case, Kalpana said even parents do not come forward to report when their kids are subjected to sexual harassment in the schools. “One of the parents, who came with their kid for counselling, said they fear their relatives, friends and neighbours maligning the child’s name,” she said.

According to a senior official with the Directorate of School Education, who is monitoring Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the elementary education programme in the State, training programmes are being organised for all government school teachers to educate them on how to handle complaints related to sexual harassment.

“All the private schools are also directed to organise similar training programmes for teachers,” he said and pointed out that regular awareness-cum-training programmes are also being organised for the child welfare police officers, government medical practitioners, Labour department personnel, special assistant public prosecutors, and members of the Child Welfare Committee.

The official said that one counsellor each from the Education Department has been appointed for every district. “However, two persons will be made available for ‘critical’ districts in the State,” he added.

The official further said that no complaints of sexual harassment will be viewed lightly and that every complaint from students will be taken up by the school headmaster with the higher authorities, following which a departmental inquiry will be initiated.

Parents and academicians point out that the measures in place are too little to put a full stop to growing instances of sexual abuse in schools. “With most of the districts having more than 1,000 schools, how come the authorities conclude that one government student counsellor will be enough for one district. Steps should be taken to appoint more counsellors to handle cases of child sexual harassment in every district and dispose of them then and there,” said K Manikkam, a member of the TN Matriculation School Association. He also demanded that the government should try to appoint more female counsellors since more than 95 per cent of the girls experience sexual harassment at school at one point or other. “It will easy for a female counsellor to comfortably handle not just the child but the victim’s mother as well,” he added.

“Continuous training sessions on the latest methods to handle such cases should also be provided to the counsellor,” said S Parvathy, executive member of Parents Teachers' Association of government schools in Pallavaram. She said new awareness programmes should be launched for the benefit of the students, especially for those studying in middle-school level.

The School Education Department has entrusted the Tamil Nadu State Council of Education Research Centre (SCERT), the students' curriculum wing, to work out programmes for Child Rights Protection Centre.

Accordingly, the Council recently organised a meeting with the authorities of the Juvenile Justice Commission for effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. A senior official from SCERT said that the discussion concluded that all the primary and middle schools, including the private institutions, should set up child rights and protection centres. He said for primary schools, a committee should be constituted, comprising two teachers, preferably one male and one female, three parents and an SSA official as members.

“Similarly, for middle schools, the committee will be having one male teacher, two female teachers, three parents and one SSA official as members,” he added.

He said all the officers under the Directorate of Elementary Education have been instructed to ensure that each school is provided with the assistance of a child protection centre and that an action-taken report is filed in every case. “These centres will start functioning from the next academic year,” he added.

S Bhaskaran, a field executive of TN Council for Child Protection, a Chennai-based NGO, said government move to establish Child Rights Protection Centres is a welcome one. “However, such centres should be conducted in a professional manner and their functioning should be effective so that children and students boldly come forward to express their grievances without any hesitation,” he said.

He added that teachers and members in the committee should be trained professionally by various experts on how to handle sexual abuse cases. “Members of the Child Protection Centres should also conduct regular interactions with the students in their respective schools,” he said.